Posts tagged Pennsylvania
Unveiling Financial Transparency Failures in Labor Organizations
July 24, 2025 // In 2024 alone, the DOL recorded 177 union enforcement actions involving fraud, embezzlement, wire fraud, and falsified records. These are only the crimes that rise to the level of federal prosecution. Far more ethical violations, financial misuses, and questionable behaviors fall below the radar leaving union members in the dark and are quietly buried through internal repayments, hush resignations, or legal threats — all without any formal DOL investigation or public accountability. Despite 16 years as a union official, I did not become aware of the existence of LM-2 financial disclosure filings until our local filed a lawsuit against our state affiliate. Imagine that: even as a union president and past treasurer, I was unaware that both our state and national unions were required to submit LM-2 forms to the Department of Labor. If someone like me — deeply engaged in union governance — was kept in the dark, how can we expect average members to know their rights, much less exercise them?
Postdoctoral scholars and research assistants at Penn vote to unionize
July 24, 2025 // Research Associates and Postdocs United at Penn would join the United Auto Workers labor union, which represents over 120,000 academic workers across the country, including 4,000 graduate workers at Penn who voted to unionize last year. Will Drayer, a postdoctoral researcher in materials science and engineering at Penn and a forefront member of the campaign to unionize, said the next steps include democratically electing a bargaining committee and surveying members to establish clear priorities before entering contract negotiations with the university.
Unions rally in Pittsburgh against Trump’s cuts to worker protections and research funding
July 23, 2025 // The event was a stop on the AFL-CIO’s “It’s Better in a Union: Fighting for Freedom, Fairness & Security” bus tour. Labor leaders including AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, USW International President David McCall and Allegheny/Fayette Central Labor Council President Darrin Kelly took the mic to address the impacts of the administration’s cuts to university research funding, Medicaid and the firing of workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs, both in Pittsburgh and across the country. After the speeches, volunteers handed out a sheet of paper with a phone number to reach the House of Representative and a QR code with a prewritten email in support of a discharge petition to force a vote in that chamber on the Protect America’s Workforce Act, a bill that aims to reverse Trump’s executive order that eliminated collective bargaining rights for federal workers.
Opinion: Democrats Attack Gig-Worker Benefits
July 23, 2025 // In a committee hearing on the bill last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders sidestepped the issue of worker benefits to address his party’s real concern—giving unions more power over individual workers. “These bills are about giving corporations the freedom to deny workers the right to form a union,” he said. Independent contractors can’t unionize under the National Labor Relations Act, so unions and the Democrats they support want to outlaw contract work, or at least deprive it of benefits that could attract workers. Democrats on the committee were united in opposition. This political opposition has deterred several gig companies from offering benefits. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has pledged more than $650 million a year to fund health insurance and paid time off if lawmakers would withdraw the threat of reclassifying the company’s drivers.
Former Union Official in $15K Embezzlement Case Seeks Probation Citing Alcoholism, Redemption
July 17, 2025 // According to federal prosecutors, Wolf exploited his post as financial secretary for United Steel Workers Local 623 in Freedom, Beaver County from 2013 until he was ousted in a 2021 election. A subsequent audit uncovered a pattern of misappropriation: checks written to himself, ATM withdrawals from union accounts, and personal charges—including alcohol and meals—on the union’s debit card.
WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital workers announce strike over staffing, wages
July 15, 2025 // Union representing over 1,400 healthcare workers at WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital plan a five-day strike starting July 22, citing understaffing, low wages, and failed negotiations.
Commentary: Throwing out the garbage? Did you ask your local union first?
July 9, 2025 // The behavior of public-sector unions is enough to make you puke. This is true figuratively, when, as a matter of course, these groups bankrupt cities and states with unsustainable contract demands and tie the hands of elected officials to run the governments voters chose them to lead. But it was also true literally in Philadelphia, where an eight-day strike caused trash to pile up across the city.
Nation’s most liberal, union-beholden congressman wants out
July 8, 2025 // Notably, he has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from major public-sector unions such as SEIU and AFSCME. Evans was a vocal supporter and co-sponsor of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, a controversial bill criticized by opponents for undermining workers’ freedom to choose union membership and expanding the political power of union leadership. Before serving in Congress, Evans spent 35 years as a Pennsylvania state representative. In 1998, he notably opposed the teachers union, which spent more than $150,000 in an unsuccessful effort to defeat him.
Republican senators unveil “portable benefits” bill for gig workers
July 7, 2025 // Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-L.A.) unveiled a bill on Monday that would make it easier for companies to offer benefits to gig workers without making them full-fledged employees. Why it matters: As more Americans turn to gig work and self-employment, there's a growing push to get them access to things like paid sick leave, health insurance and retirement benefits. Zoom in: Called the Unlocking Benefits for Independent Workers Act, the bill is part of legislative package from Cassidy, along with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Both also plan on unveiling related bills Monday.
Pittsburgh-Area Coca-Cola Driver Slams Teamsters With Federal Charges for Threatening Firing Over Refusal to Fund Union Politics
July 7, 2025 // Hammaker’s charges go on to challenge the fact that Teamsters union officials’ policies force workers to “affirmatively opt out of paying for non-chargeable expenditures” (if such requests are accepted at all), as opposed to letting workers voluntarily opt in to such support. Moreover, “the Union has violated the Act by failing to inform [Hammaker] and similarly situated employees of the true amount of dues they are required to pay” under Beck to stay employed, the charges conclude.